Scientific Answers
by JakkyLovesScreamer
Summary: During the war, while Skyfire was doing research of a cure for the Dark Energon infestation, he accidentally stumbled upon a conversation between Starscream and Optimus Prime. In hopes that Starscream will be joining the Autobot faction, he goes to Optimus Prime to talk about it and finds himself in an awkward situation.
1. Chapter 1

War cries filled the air, while battle wounded air warriors streaked the skies with energon. Little was done to prevent their falls from being painful. If a fallen seeker did not die in the crash, the surrounding Autobots would mercilessly drown his spark in agony before they offlined him. In this case, Starscream would rather have crashed.

Since most of Cybertron was Decepticon territory, what still remained Autobot ground was heavily populated. Those who couldn't fight were safely inside Iacon borders. Scientists roamed free from lab to lab, trying desperately to formulate a cure for the bots that were overexposed to Dark Energon. Among these scientists was none other than Skyfire. Even Skyfire, the most successful scientist of the lot, was dumbfounded at the properties of such energon as Dark Energon.

Occasionally the thought of trying it crossed his processor, as he was dangerously low on energy. Recharge did nothing if he had no fuel, but he had little of either right now. Despite the shortage of energon, even with a synthetic energon being processed, he still worked. The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. Scientists were few, while an overwhelming number had been contaminated with the substance Dark Energon. As of now, no amount of reinforcements could be too much to handle. Even though he could be of use on the battlefield, his efforts in science were devoted, so still he worked. Through all the chaos, surrender was not an option.

Megatron's army of Decepticons had no reason to surrender; why give up when you were so near to clasping your hands around victory? But there had been a few "problems" with his senior staff. Soundwave, who had been with him from the start, was nothing to worry about, as well as his mad-scientist Shockwave. The two of them got along just fine. It was Starscream who concerned him the most. If anyone was to make a good traitor, it was Starscream. Treachery was only one of the things he was good at. Messing everything up added to his lust for Megatron's position and the power that went with it.

"You wouldn't last one day in the pits," Megatron once spat at his second.

And his position; SIC. If that wasn't enough for him already, than only Primus knows where his limits would stand. Megatron's suspicions were aroused even more after he detected records of a hidden transmission with Optimus Prime.

Optimus; yet another expert at treachery.

Megatron hadn't been recording all terminal history for nothing. Sooner or later, at least one warrior was bound to stray from the Decepticon cause. It was common knowledge that one warrior would expand to an enterprise of rebels in just one solar cycle. But, as always, Megatron had everything covered. It was all part of Soundwave's job as his TIC.

At this point rank was irrelevant, because if a second in command was not loyal, then he had no right to have authority. Soundwave's working knowledge of the Autobot archives guaranteed his ability to recognize when one's identity was false. Being Megatron's favorite and most loyal servant granted him access to nearly as much as Starscream. Starscream outranked him by only one position, but nevertheless, Starscream treated Soundwave as if he was a mere Eradicon, just like he treated everyone else.

Fortunately, Soundwave had the same ides as Megatron; "Frag his rank, he will pay."

Arrogance pulsed through Starscream's fuel lines, while his energon was tainted with his lust for power; a hazardous combination. 'Cons who paid attention to the little things were noted as worthy. Soundwave accomplished such worth by working under Megatron's command.

His skills would be put to use on Starscream.

Regrettably, Starscream's transmission with Optimus Prime had been encoded, making it difficult to comprehend. Even Shockwave couldn't put the puzzle together. Just when the mingling voices started to make sense together, a piece would pop up out of nowhere and form a sturdy barrier, preventing any progress form getting around its strength.

The end result was merely static.


	2. Chapter 2

(AUTHORS NOTE: I'm so sorry that I haven't updated for a long time, I'll try to be on moar :D And don't hate on my spelling because I was too lazy to Beta this D: whatever.)

Very few of the Autobots had any time for hobbies. Even fewer were even granted time off. Though Skyfire was offered consistent breaks, each and every one of them was declined.

Everyone knew where to find him when they needed his assistance. Skyfire was always busy at the Iacon Science Station.

Skyfire lived a lonely life, and he couldn't remember the last time he had had a conversation for purely social entertainment. Everything was to be relevant to the cause.

If it wasn't for Cybertron, it was for his fellow Autobots. And this, of course, included what his off-the-clock activity schedule involved. But all this changed when Skyfire intercepted a strange transmission from his old partner; Starscream.

It was an accident, and an honest mistake on Starscream's part. He had been attempting an alliance with Optimus Prime, disguising his efforts as merely a "proposal" in an encoded communication. Starscream sent out the inviting message, his friendly tone hiding his real intentions of taking advantage of Prime's strength and position to overthrow Megatron.

While crossing through subspace, the Autobot facility with the most highly sensitive sensors had picked up a trace of the transmission.

This faculty just happened to be the Iacon Science Station.

Interruptions were rare for Skyfire, so when his monitor blinked due to the message, he nearly shrieked in surprise.

A preview was automatically downloaded when he acknowledged the transmission, so Skyfire curiously skimmed it over. All he read was "Received from: Decepticon Air Commander Starscream" before he lost his head.

"Optimus Prime, come in!" He screamed over his private com link.

"Skyfire, what is wrong?" replied Optimus as worry began to cloud his voice. Skyfire wasn't one to glitch up easily.

"Star- uh, a Decepticon has contacted me with a message." Skyfire paused for a moment to check if it was addressed to anybot in particular. "It's intended for you. Should I patch it through, sir?"

"Yes, thank you Skyfire." Optimus responded after a nano-click, then hung up.

Now that he was calmer than before, Skyfire could see that the rest of the message seemed to be concealed by odd cybertronian characters. Being a scientist, he also had a variety of computer skills, and made quick work of decoding it. A scowl dragged his faceplates into a distorted position at how primitive the code-work was compared to his knowledge of how to crack it.

In the process if decoding it, Skyfire couldn't help but read it; he didn't really have much of a choice in this case. Disgust and depression added to his foul mood, as he soon found out that his previous ally Starscream was no longer a scientist.

Nobody was there to stop his ego from overcoming himself anymore.

Despite the fact that Skyfire knew Starscream was a Decepticon, he had never imagined he would get so bad, be so different. Never for a moment had Skyfire thought that Starscream would not only laugh in the face of science, but not hesitate to point and shoot his null rays at innocent, defenseless researchers. Did he remember that he was once among them?

If he was doing such things, Skyfire assumed that he did not.

To make matters worse, not only had Starscream joined the Decepticons, but he was determined to lead them along with their corrosive cause in recreating Cybertron. Had Starscream not a trace of dignity left in him? Had his life loving spark been entirely corrupted all because of the Decepticon's ways of tyranny? Skyfire felt as if his tanks would purge themselves any second now. If all this was Megatron's doing, and the rumors of his cruelty were true, how utterly revolting could Megatron possibly be inside? Right now, he didn't want want to think about Megatron. Starscream was bad enough.

Thankfully, Skyfire's spark ceased its sinking as he read on to the last part of the message. Starscream was proposing a truce? With Optimus Prime? With the Autobots? _With Skyfire?_

Perhaps there really was hope yet.


End file.
